A reorganisation of the British Army, overseen by General Nick Carter, will soon see as many as five infantry battalions abolished or merged.

Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, has said that “recruitment performance” will be a key factor in determining which units are scrapped or merged, suggesting that undermanned battalions are at greatest risk.

The figures show that the Highlanders, 4 Bn Royal Regiment of Scotland, should have an official “establishment” of 608 soldiers. In fact, the unit currently has only 460 men, a shortfall of 24 per cent.

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders are 91 men short of their 556 target, a 20 per cent shortfall.

Another Scottish battalion, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, is 15 percent short of full strength.

Overall, the Scottish Division is 354 men short of its “establishment” figure of 2,764.

The figures will add to pressure on ministers from English regiments and MPs to make sure Scottish units bear the brunt of the coming cuts.

The final decisions on cutting units have been repeatedly delayed by political concerns in No 10, where David Cameron's advisers are worried about antagonising Scots voters before an independence referendum.

Insiders predict those concerns will mean that only one Scottish infantry battalion is scrapped, even though the manning figures suggest it should be two.

Previous attempts to scrap Scottish units have sparked public protests. A cross-party campaign is seeking to protect the Scots battalions because of their long military history.

The modern Highlanders unit made up of several Highland regiments including the Gordon Highlanders who fought at Waterloo and the Somme.

The Agyll and Sutherland Highlanders are the descendents of a unit that stood in the 'Thin Red Line' at Balaklava during the Crimean War and won six Victoria Crosses in one day at Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

The manning figures were obtained by Mark Lancaster, a Conservative MP and Territorial Army officer, who said that decisions on scrapping units should be taken on purely military grounds.

Mr Lancaster said: “First indications are that General Carter has proposed an optimal military solution from the clear terms of reference given to him, at this late stage in the process politicians of all parties should appreciate this and not seek to tinker with the result on non military grounds.”

Patrick Mercer, a Tory MP and former commanding officer of an English regiment, said the figures proved the case for cutting Scots units first.

He said: “The Secretary of State said quite clearly that a battalion’s survival will rest open their ability to recruit and the numbers of foreign and Commonwealth soldiers in their ranks so this must mean a number of Scottish battalions are vulnerable.

“I also trust that well-recruited English battalions will survive.”

An MoD spokesman said: “As the Defence Secretary has said, recruitment performance is just one of the criteria determining the future shape of the Army. By 2020 the Army will be restructured to become an integrated regular and reserve force of 120,000 personnel but the reduction in the size of the Regular Army will not compromise the mission in Afghanistan.

"These are necessary changes due to the tough decisions which had to be made to tackle the multi-billion pound Defence deficit inherited from the last Government. Idle speculation only creates uncertainty for serving soldiers and their families.”